Sky Haven

While the Mile High City is the official capital of Free Colorado, the real seat of power is in the mountains near the Deseret border. Ten miles south of Grand Junction, in the mountain ranges known as the Zeppelin Graveyard, squats the town of Sky Haven.

When the railway line between Grand Junction and Dolores was under construction in 1928, the town of Sky Haven was built by the Central Pacific Railroad Company to provide accomodation for the workforce. With the total collapse of the CPRC in 1929, a considerable number of these workers decided to remain in Sky Haven and try to build a life. The railroad, providing a link between the mines of the southwest and the trading hub of Grand Junction, provided a meagre living until the pirates moved in.

With the rise of the zeppelin, it was soon discovered that the design of typical zeppelins - helium-filled gas cells within a rigid framework - was vulnerable to sudden losses of lift while traversing the high mountains of the Rockies. These zeppelins - and any others that couldn't escape - were looted by criminal elements, which attracted more and better-equipped pirate gangs.

Sky Haven now has almost no "civilian" residents, and poses a major hinderance to continued exploitation of the southwest mines. No trains can get through the region without heavy defences or paying a considerable amount of protection money, and the economy of Sky Haven relies on bribes from the mining companies, cross-border raids into Deseret, and profits from the best saloons and whorehouses in North America.

Sky Haven is home to many notable groups, including the Black Hats pirate gang.